They’ve tried to call it “wonky,” “left-field,” “future beats, ” or simply “the Beat Scene.” A handful of blogs even tried to call it “aquacrunk” once.
I’m talking about the gritty, off-kilter instrumental hip-hop that first drifted into our headphones through a cloud of high-grade, California weed smoke. Think warped kick drum and hi-hat rhythms, wiggling synths, and heavy basslines modulated by woozy side-chain compression—an unusual architecture built on the foundation that the legendary J Dilla once laid.
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You may know it as the sound that Flying Lotus and his Los Angeles co-conspirators picked up on, flipped and brought to the fore in the mid-2000s; the sound that Dabrye and Prefuse73 pioneered across labels like Ghostly International and Eastern Developments, and one that LA’s Daddy Kev fearlessly championed on all the Alpha Pup releases. The damn sound doesn’t even have a real name (many producers just call it hip-hop) though I think “future beats” is as good as any.
Now, the above description doesn’t even come close to covering a tiny slice of this movement’s far-reaching history. For that, you’ll want to look into the full history of hip-hop, from start to finish—period (for a great place to start, read Jeff Chang’s seminal Can’t Stop Won’t Stop).
In my opinion, the best way to experience the finest in future beats is to dig through the staggering number of great compilations released since 2006 or so. So I did the work for you and picked seven albums that represent the cream of the post-FlyLo crop. Then there are three classics from the vaults for good measure.
And before you trolls start coming at me with the “You forgot X” or “How could you not mention Y,” let me set the record straight—the below list is NOT DEFINITIVE, and I’m hoping you add your own contributions in the comments below. So roll one up and let the head start nodding.
Beat Dimensions 1 (2007) Rush Hour Sound Supreme Beat Dimensions 2 All City 7×7 Beat (2009) The Moon Comes Closer (2010) Project Mooncircle Nihon Kizuna (2011) Sound Healers (2011) Bambooman Beat Garden 2 (2013) Intergalactic Travels 2 (2013) Urban Waves theAnd here are three classic throwbacks to the knob-twisting, beat-making experimentalists of hip-hop’s second decade:
Headz 2 (1996) Ninja Tune the Headz 2 Deep Concentration (1997) Om Records Rapid Transit (2000)Matt Earp is the DJ and writer Kid Kameleon. He currently lives in Berlin. Follow him on Twitter -@kidkameleon
